Grace Theological Journal 2.2 (Fall 1981) 227-37.
Copyright © 1981 by Grace Theological Seminary. Cited with permission.
TRANSFORMED INTO
HIS IMAGE:
A CHRISTIAN PAPYRUS
D. BRENT SANDY
Published here for the .first time is a Christian papyrus of the
fourth century, The content of the document is of special interest to
biblical students .for its statement about transformation. The position
of the text on the page and the signs in the text are significant for
papyrology. This article begins with a brief summary of the concept
of transformation in the milieu of early Christianity, and against that
backdrop presents the papyrus and its contents.
Basic to the entirety of this article is the persuasiveness of the
excellent teaching and scholarship of my esteemed pedagogue, Profes-
sor James Boyer. Through many undergraduate and graduate courses,
he created in this student an insatiable interest in the likes of Classical
Greece and NT backgrounds. A Greek proverb says: h[ a]rxh> h!misu
panto<j, "The beginning is half of everything." To the one therefore
ho began a good work in me the following is dedicated.
* * *
In the ancient world the concept of transformation was very
common.1 Several literary pieces were entitled Metamorphoses, of
which probably best known is Ovid's epic poem composed from
about A.D. 2 onwards.2 The dominant idea in much of this genre is of
gods changing themselves into perceptible beings. But from Apuleius'
Metamorphoses, written in the second century, we learn of the
initiation rites typical of the mystery religions, where the devotee is
transformed into a god-like being in a regeneration ritual.3 Tatian, a
Christian writing in the second century, mentions both aspects when
1 J. Behm, "metamorfo<w," TDNT 4. 756-57.
2 E. J. Kenney, "Ovid," Oxford Classical Dictionary, 764.
3 Apuleius, Metamorphoses (= The Golden Ass), II. 23-29; J. W. Duff, A Literary
History of Rome in the Silver Age: From Tiberius to Hadrian (2d ed.; New York:
Barnes and Noble, 1960) 153.
228 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
he ridicules the Greek and Roman gods: "There are legends of the
metamorphosis of men: with you the gods also are metamorphosed.
Rhea becomes a tree; Zeus a dragon. . . a god, forsooth, becomes a
swan, or takes the form of an eagle. . . . "4 Present also in the Jewish
literature, the transformation motif occurs especially in apocalyptic
descriptions of an eschatological salvation.5
In the NT, deity and humanity again undergo a change in form.6
Paul describes the incarnation as a taking on of the form of a
servant.7 Jesus was transfigured, as recorded in three Gospels,8 mid-
way through his public ministry. The post-resurrection appearances
of Jesus evidence another change in form.9 However, that special
experience on the Mount of Transfiguration viewed by three disciples
goes almost unnoticed in the rest of Scripture10 and had little
apparent effect on his followers.11 Paul speaks of a present and future
transformation of the Christian but makes no allusion to the trans-
figuration of Jesus: th>n au]th>n ei]ko<na metamorfou<meqa, "we are
being transformed into the same image;" metasxhmati<sei to> sw?ma
th?j tapeinw<sewj h[mw?n su<mmorfon t&? sw<mati th?j do<chj au]tou?, "He
will transform the body of our humility into conformity with the
body of his glory."12
Among the many volumes extant representing the early Christian
movement, Jesus' transfiguration and incarnation are treated in
numerous commentaries and homilies,13 but the Christian's trans-
formation is rarely mentioned,14 perhaps to avoid association with the
pagan mystery religions.
4Tatian, Address to the Greeks 10.1. See similar statements in Aristides, Apology
8.2; 9.6,7.
5 2 Bar. 51:3, 10. In the OT the only change of form recorded is Exod 34:29-35;
perhaps also the angel of the Lord appearances imply a transformation of deity into ,
human form. lf
6 Terms: metamorfo<w, metasxhmati<zw, summorfi<zw, su<mmorfoj,
7 Phil 2:7.
8 Matt 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36.
9 Luke 24:37, 38; John 20:14-17; cf. Mark 16:12.
10 The only clear remark is 2 Pet 1:17, 18.
11 Joseph B. Bernardin, "The Transfiguration," JBL 52 (1933) 188.
12 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:21. See also Rom 8:29; 12:2; Phil 3:10; 2 Cor 11:13-15.
13 For complete discussion see A. M. Ramsey, The Glory of God and the
Transfiguration of Christ (London/,New York/Toronto: Longmans and Green, 1949)
130-35.
14 The only examples I have found are Methodius Olympius, The Banquet 8.8,
". . . transformation into the image of the Word" and Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita,
De Divinis Nominibus 1.3. My search for references to transformation was conducted
in: G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon, 1961-68);
E. J. Goodspeed, Index Patristicus sive Clovis Patrum Apostolicorum Operum ;
(Naperville, IL: Allenson, 1907); E. J. Goodspeed, Index Apologeticus sive Clovis
Justini Martyris Operum, (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1912); H. Kraft, Clovis Patrum
Apostolicorum (Munich: Kosel, 1963).
SANDY: A CHRISTIAN PAPYRUS 229
THE PAPYRUS15
P.Rob. inv. 28 was purchased in 1953 by the late Professor
David M. Robinson, who bought it from a Cairo dealer by the name of
of Sameda. Nothing more about the provenance is known.16
The papyrus is the bottom 4.4 cm. of a leaf of a codex that was
apparently 14.7 cm. in width. Along the top edge of the fragment, on
both sides, remain the lower portions of letters which were from the
last line of the body of text. On H,17 below the traces of letters at the
top of the fragment (line 1), are five lines written in what was
originally the margin .at the bottom of the page. The papyrus is light
brown m. color, V being somewhat lighter than H. The fabric of the
papyrus is of coarse quality.
The appearance of the writing and the position on the papyrus is
informal and almost careless. The amount written and the room on
the leaf were not carefully coordinated, so that it is gradually more
crowded together into the available space. The margin to the left is at
least 1.3 cm. and above, 1.3 cm.; but no margin exists to the right or
at the bottom. As much as 0.7 cm. separate lines 2 and 3, while
between lines 5 and 6 there IS at most 0.5 cm.
The bottom edge of the papyrus is fairly straight, probably
representing the original bottom edge of the codex leaf. The side
edges are both frayed and rounded on the corners. The left edge
(looking at H) is likely where the leaf was folded in the binding of the
codex. The top edge is not as straight as the bottom edge, nor is it as
frayed as the side edges; here the papyrus was probably cut with a
knife by the finders or dealers through whose hands it passed.
Perhaps we can hypothesize that when the papyrus was cut it was not
connected to its codex, but was a single leaf that was divided by at
least two parties.
PALAEOGRAPHY
Although written, along the fibers, the line of fibers is not
followed for the Writing, nor were any rulings made. Brown Ink,
although sometimes dark and sometimes light, was used for all the
Writing on the papyrus. Several places on H there appear to be some
traces of lampback, unrelated to what is written in brown ink. Little
care was gIven m the use of the pen; It was evidently rather blunt and
not carefully made. There are not neat thicks and thins in the letters;
15 See the plates on pp. 234-35.
16 For permission to publish P.Rob. inv. 28 I thank Professor William Willis of
DukeUniversity under whose guidance I did initial work on this papyrus and who has
graciously assisted in this publication of the papyrus.
17 H stands for the side of the papyrus with the fibers lying horizontally; V is for
the side with vertical fibers.
230 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
this is true for what remains of the text above and for what is written
below. Palaeographically, the remains of line I on both sides re-
semble the style of lines 2-6 on H. Thus the same hand with the same
pen and ink may have written both.
The characteristics of the hand are best paralleled by P.Mert.
11,93 (a private Christian letter, dated to the fourth century and
described in relation to P.Jews 1927 as a fair sized, sloping, literary
type), and the Dyskolos papyrus of P. Bodmer, dated late third or
fourth century.18 For some letters, their size in relation to others is
quite irregular (note the long descenders, especially on upsilon, and
the large epsilon), adding to the informal look of the writing. The
absence of ligatures and the presence of diaeresis is standard in book
hands of this period.
SYMBOLS
Occurrences of :/. in literary papyri that I have noted are as
follows:
P.Oxy. 16 first century Thucydides
696 first century Thucydides
2442 third century Pindar
2697 third century Argonautica
2306 second century Commentary on Alcaeus
P.F/or. third century Commentary on Aristophanes
In four of the six examples, it is placed in the margin; in the other
two it is placed in mid-verse.
A partial explanation of this symbol is given by Diogenes
Laertius (iii, 66). He names and describes the use of various signs in a
text of Plato; in regard to :/. he says: o]belo>j periestigme<noj proj
ta>j ei]kaiouj a]qeth<seij, "the obelos periestigmenos is for random
rejections (of passages)."
Nowhere has ↓ been found among literary papyri of Classical
authors.
The use of both signs, however, is frequent in Biblical and
Christian papyri. Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus demonstrate
the frequent use of both signs, sometimes together and sometimes
separately, but always where a correction has been made.19 When
used together, ↓ stands in the margin and :/. marks the precise place in
the line for the correction. At the top or bottom of the page, ↓ stands
18 For bibliographical data on various editions of papyri cited, see John F. Oates,
Roger S. Bagnall, and William H. Willis, Checklist of Editions of Greek Papyri and
Ostraca, 2nd ed., BASP: Supplements 1 (1978), distributed by Scholars Press.
19 See, in addition to the codices, H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat, Scribes and
Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus (London: British Museum, 1938) 40.
SANDY: A CHRISTIAN PAPYRUS 231
at the beginning of what is to be inserted, and .1. stands at the end.
Sometimes a@nw and ka<tw accompany :/.
In Chester Beatty Papyrus VI (Numbers and Deuteronomy),
dated to the second century, ↓ is used identically as ↓ in Codices
Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.
Henry A. Sanders notes the use of :/. in some biblical manu-
scripts dated to the fourth or early fifth century, marking the location
of the omission and then repeated in the margin giving the words to
be supplied.20
An exact parallel to P.Rob. inv. 28 is described in P. Tura, where ↓
and :/. stand together in the margin at the beginning of the part to be
supplied. In the text, ↓ marks the line and :/.the precise location
within the line.21
A somewhat later function of :/.is described by Isidore (A.D. 602-
36), bishop of Seville (1.21): Lemniscus, id est, virgula inter geminos
punctos jacens, opponitur in his locis, quae sacrae Scripturae inter-
pretes eadem sensu, sed diversis sermonibus transtulerent, "The
lemniscus, that is a stick lying between two points, is placed in those
places which the interpreters of Holy Scriptures transcribe in the
same sense, but with different expressions."
The evidence therefore for the function of ↓ and :/.in the fourth
century suggests that lines 2-6 of P. Rob. inv. 28 were an omission in
the text above and were supplied in the bottom margin of the page:2
CONTENT
The text of P. Rob. inv. 28 has not been found in the corpus
of Patristic literature extant, nor has the rest of the papyrus from
which this piece was cut been located in the editions of published
papyri. Without that larger context it remains impossible to deter-
mine the complete meaning of the text we have. Clearly, however, it
is a Christian description of some form of transformation.
Transfiguration
Although the usual Christian discussions of a change in form
centered on the transfiguration of Jesus, the present text does not
readily fit that sense of transformation. The restoration of what sin
destroyed and the visitation of the dead seem out of place in the
context of the transfiguration. Some recent scholarship, however, has
20 Henry A. Sanders, The Washington Manuscript of the Four Gospels (New York:
MacMillan, 1912) 32.
21 Albert Henrichs, Didymos der Blinde: Kommentar zu Hiob, Teil I (Bonn:
Rudolf Habelt, 1968) 17.
22 E. G. Turner, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University, 1971) 17, 18.
232 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
seen in the transfiguration story a prediction of the resurrection, in
which case inclusion of references to the passion week may be
appropriate.23 A. M. Ramsey, discussing Heb 2:9, says ". . . the
writer, who cherishes greatly the traditions of the earthly life of Jesus
and dwells especially upon the episode of Gethsemane (in v. 7-8) may
have the event of the transfiguration specifically in mind."24 How-
ever, this association of the transfiguration with the resurrection of
Jesus is rare in the early Christian literature.
Incarnation
Perhaps the visitation of the dead should be understood in a
spiritual sense, that Jesus came among the spiritually dead to raise
them up to be citizens of heaven.25 Problematic, though, for this
explanation is the statement that it was a transformation into his own
image, hardly descriptive of the incarnation; unless this statement
refers to the transformation of believers into his image, that their
obedience might restore what sin destroyed.
A good example of an early Christian work which speaks of the
incarnation as a transformation is Ascension of Isaiah 3:13:26
. . . kai> o![ti di ] a]u]tou? e]fane[rw<qh h[] e]ce<leusij [tou? a]ga]phtou? e]k
[tou? e[bd]o<mou ou]ranou?, kai> h[ metamo<rfwsij au]tou?, kai> h[ kata<basij
au]tou? kai> h[ i]de<a h{n dei? au]to>n metamorfwqh?nai e]n ei]dei a]nqrwpou. . .
. . . and that through him was revealed the departure of the beloved
from the seventh heaven, and his transformation, and his descent, and
the appearance which had to be transformed in the form of man. ...
Descent into hell
A third explanation for the meaning of P.Rob. inv. 28 is a fre-
quent topic in early Christianity, the descensus ad infernos.27 The
23 J. Schniewind, Das Evangelium Nach Markus (NTD; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck
and Ruprecht, 1956) 117; H. Baltensweiler, Die Verkliirung Jesu: Historisches Ereignis
und synoptische Berichte (Zurich: Zwingli, 1959). R. Bultmann, Die Geschichte der
synoptischen Tradition (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1957) 278; but against
this see G. H. Boobyer, St. Mark and the Transfiguration Story (Edinburgh:
T. & T. Clark, 1942) 21.
24 Ramsey, The Glory of God and the Transfiguration of Christ, 126-27.
25 For the use of "dead" in this figurative sense see BAGD, 534.
26 P. Amh. I. xviii. 22- xix.5
27 See J. A. MacCulloch, The Harrowing of Hell: A Comparative Study of an
Early Christian Doctrine (Edinburgh: T. & T, Clark, 1930); Malcolm L. Peel, "The
'Descensus ad Infernos' in 'The Teachings of Silvanus' (CG VII, 4)," Numen 26
(1979) 23-49.
SANDY: A CHRISTIAN PAPYRUS 233
visitation of the dead and raising them up to heaven and the
restoration of what sin destroyed favor this interpretation.
Another passage of the Ascension of Isaiah is instructive here:28
. . .kai> th>n kata<basin kai> e]ce<leusin tou? a]gaphtou? e]k tou? e[bdo<mou
ou]ranou? ei]j to>n %!dhn, kai> th>n metamo<rfwsin h{n metamorfw<qh
e@mprosqen tw?n au]tou? . . . .
. . . and the descent and departure of the beloved from the seventh
heaven into Hades, and the transformation which was transformed
before his disciples. . . .
Against this understanding of P.Rob. inv. 28 is the transformation
phrase, which hardly describes the dead, but could be taken to refer to
his resurrection.
TRANSCRIPTION
P.Rob. inv. 28 14.7 x 4.4 cm. Fourth Century
H ]to> [n] no [
↓ :/. e@rgon h#n ei]j i*]di<an au]tou? a]namo<rfwsij
ei]ko<na i*!n ] o{ sune<triyen h[ para<basij a]nanew<-
s^ h[ xa<rij th?j u*[pakoh?j. dia> tau<thn th>n ai]ti<an ge<-
gonen e]n nekroi?j i*!na kai> nekrou>j e[autw?i
a]nasth<s^ ou]ranou? poli<taj kj.
V] a de> ge<graf [ ]u[ ]u [
TRANSLATION
The deed was a transformation into his own image in order that
what sin shattered the grace of obedience might restore. For this
reason the Lord came among the dead in order that he might raise up
to himself even the dead as citizens of heaven.
NOTES
H I. Fragments of four letters remain, with space between the
second and third for another letter. The reading supplied in the
28 A. M. Denis, Fragmenta Pseudepigraphorum Quae Supersunt Graeca (Leiden:
E. J. Brill. 1970) 105.
234GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
SANDY: A CHRISTIAN PAPYRUS235
236 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
transcription is one possibility of many. The letters listed below are
considered feasible on the basis of the ink that remains of the four
letters.
1 _ 2 _ ? _ 3 _ 4
i e n a
r o u e
t j q
f w o
y j
w
If the omega is selected for letter 2, there would probably not be
room for another letter following it before letter 3. It is assumed that
the line continued following letter 4; however, letter I was probably
the first in the line, considering the left margin of lines 2-6.
2. a]namo<rfwsij: ". . . The scribe apparently wrote ava-
morfwsew[j] initially, which he (or someone) corrected to ava-
morfwsij; in other words, E was corrected to a heavy exaggerated i,
and w was corrected to j."29
5. nekroi?j: ". . . The scribe apparently wrote the third word
nekrooisi, then cancelled the second omicron and erased the final
iota, then proceeded to write i*na. . . ."
6. poli<taj: ". . . I believe the scribe wrote poli<taj, but the top
stroke of the sigma has flaked away leaving a form that could be
misread as iota, except for the fact that his iotas never turn to the
right at the bottom. . . ."
V 1. Fragments of ten letters remain, with possible space following
letters 6 and 7 for one other letter. The reading supplied in the
transcription is one possibility of many. The letters listed below are
considered feasible on the basis of the ink that remains.
1 _ 2 _ 3 _ 4 _ 5 _ 6 _ ? _ 7 _ 8 _ _ _ 9 _ _ _ 10
a d e g a g r f u u
d j i e h f y
k r o i y r
m t j k
n g
CONCLUSION
The papyrus here published, though enigmatic because of its
brevity and its separation from a wider context, is illustrative of the
29 My thanks again to Professor Willis for his reexamination of the papyrus and
comments on lines 2, 5, 6.
SANDY: A CHRISTIAN PAPYRUS 237
primary evidence preserved on papyrus and of the theological litera-
ture of the early Christians. In addition to the essential discussions of
the papyrus itself, the signs, and the palaeography, three possible
explanations for its content were explored. However until the rest of
the piece of papyrus is located from which P.Rob. inv. 28 was cut or
until the specific content of the papyrus is found in other extant
Patristic literature, a decision regarding the significance of the state-
ments of the papyrus will remain premature.
This material is cited with gracious permission from:
Grace Theological Seminary
200 Seminary Dr.
WinonaLake, IN 46590
Please report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at: